• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, February 6, 2015

According to Rocket Fuel’s Quantified Self (QS) Digital Tools Survey for Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies, 31% of all U.S. consumers use a QS tool to track their health and fitness, food, diet, sleep, and/or mood. These include smart watches, wearable fitness trackers, and apps and websites that track their habits and activities. The findings show that QS users recognize the advantages of storing and analyzing their personal data, and the benefits this information can provide them as a consumer. 43% of QS users are willing to share behavioral data to receive more personalized digital ads

QS tools are gaining traction among consumers, and 20% of consumers have someone else in their household who uses a QS tool. 25% of consumers are non-users but are interested in using a QS tool for health and fitness. Nearly one in five U.S. consumers planned to give a QS tool to someone as a gift this holiday season, further demonstrating the appetite for these types of digital tools and the desire to track health and fitness behavior digitally.

• 25% of U.S. consumers who are not using a QS tool to track their health and fitness are interested in using one
• 18% of U.S. consumers plan to give a QS tool as a gift to someone this holiday season
• 20% of U.S. consumers have someone else in their household who uses a QS tool for health and fitness
• 31% of U.S. consumers currently use a QS tool to track their health and fitness

16% of U.S. consumers own a wearable fitness tracker, with Fitbit and Nike + FuelBand being the most common brands owned. 51% of those who use wearable trackers use an app to track the health and fitness metrics collected by their wearable device, while 24% use a website, and 25% use both an app and a website. 14% of U.S. consumers say they are likely to purchase a wearable fitness tracking device in the next six months, while 12% are still undecided.

• 16% of U.S. consumers use a wearable health and fitness tracking device
• 14% of U.S. consumers say they are likely to purchase a wearable device in the next six months
• 29% of U.S. consumers use a website or an app not associated with a wearable device to track their health and fitness

Qs users tend to skew younger (ages 25-44), and either Hispanic or African American. They are more likely to have higher tech ownership, higher education, be employed full time, married, and have higher household income than interested non-users.

Those who use a QS tool for health and fitness most often track their weight, calories, distance traveled, diet, and heart rate. Women are more likely to track their diet (calories consumed) than men, while men are more likely to track their heart rate, blood pressure, body fat, and running speed than women. Those who use a wearable device are more likely to track all metrics than those who just use an app or website, especially quality of sleep, mood, body fat, heart rate, and average speed.

Users of QS tools are much more likely to have experienced positive, healthier life changes within the last year than non-users, especially related to eating healthier, exercising more, and being in better shape overall. Wearable device users are more likely to have experienced all of these life changes within the past year relative to website/apps users who don’t use wearables.

More than half of QS users check labels on food and beverage products and cook more often as a result of using QS tools. One in four participating consumers have changed food brands as a result of using QS tools, and nearly one in five have changed brands of personal-care products.

Men are more likely to have changed brands of personal-care products and started to take vitamins/supplements as a result of using the tools, while women are more likely to have changed brands of food or beverage products, started to check calorie/nutrition information, and started to look for new recipes.

QS users are more likely to recall seeing digital ads than non-users, including CPG digital ads specifically, and they show a much stronger likelihood of purchasing a CPG product as a result of seeing digital ads. The CPG digital ads that are most often recalled by QS users are for household and personal-care products (both have a 28% past-month recall level).

The report concludes, in summary:

• The Quantified Self movement is gaining traction among consumers, and new health and fitness tracking tools are continually becoming available in the marketplace
• These tools and data are impacting how consumers live, the choices they make, and the products they purchase; i.e. exercising more, eating healthier foods in smaller portions, and changing brand preferences
• Quantified Self users are more receptive to digital media than non-users and are willing to trade their personal data in exchange for more personalized advertising tailored to their own QS interests

For additional information from Rocket Fuel, please visit here.